Lights at Temple Square and Fun with Friends

Last night, we got together with some of our friends in Salt Lake and we had a blast! We all met up at our friends Cam & Lindsay's house and had tasty soup & bread bowls for dinner & a GREAT cheesecake dessert. Then we left their house and headed up to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights!

It was pretty cold outside, so we had Ellie bundled up as much as we could.

We stopped at the Visitor's center first to see the Christus Statue, and Ellie loved the mural on the walls and ceiling. She just kept pointing to all the stars, clouds and to the statue of Jesus. It was super cute.

Then we bundled her back up in the stroller and headed outside. She loved looking at all the lights and was pretty well behaved the whole time.

All bundled up with a cold nose!!

Our little family!

This was just 3-4 weeks before Ellie joined our little family! Crazy to see how much has changed in just one year!

Picture of the whole group!

Comparing December 2010's picture to this year's is crazy (though we did have an extra 2 couples which made this year's picture seem even bigger!)

Once we finished looking at all the lights, Ellie started to get a little ornery, and I think it's because she wouldn't keep her hands inside her blanket, so her fingers were FREEZING. So, David quickly went back to the car with her and I walked back with all of our friends. We got to the car and it was super toasty, which was nice. Then we changed Ellie and put her in pj's so if she fell asleep on the way home, we'd just have to put her in bed. I fed her before we left, and she fell asleep about 5 minutes into the trip. When we got home, she woke up but went right back to sleep once we got inside and put her in her bed.

Thanks for a great time, friends! It's always good to hang out and visit! Seeing the lights on Temple Square is one of my favorite Christmas Traditions, and I'm happy that we were able to see them this year and take Ellie with us!

Ellie: Eleven months old!

Has it really been nearly a year that little Ellie has been with us? It doesn't seem like it's been that long, but at the same time it seems like it's been forever!

Ellie's such a fun little girl, and she's exactly that now--a little girl! Not a baby! I can't believe how much she's turning into a toddler lately! From nearly running, to starting to say words, to just her little mannerisms.

Poor Ellie's been hit with the sick bug WAAAY too many times during the past month or so, but that hasn't stopped her from being happy and cute most of the time. Today we went to the doctor again for her ears. She has been struggling to sleep through the night and last night she was up all night screaming which meant just one thing to me--ear infection. I was right. Though this time, it's only a mild ear infection in her left ear. I'm hoping and praying that she gets over it quickly and that this antibiotic does the trick!

I'm nearly done planning every little detail for Ellie's 1st birthday party, and I'm way excited about it. It's going to be a lot of fun! It'll be so cute to watch Ellie open presents, eat cake and ice cream and just have fun. I'm also very excited for Christmas this year and watching Ellie figure things out.

Well, here are some things about our little sweet pea at eleven months old:

• She's wearing almost all 12 month clothes, still some 6-9 month outfits here and there
• She wears size 3 diapers, is just now fitting into size 3 shoes and she's got enough hair for some cute and elaborate hairstyles!
• She weighs 19 lbs 1 oz and is 27 1/2 inches tall!
  
• She's got two teeth on the bottom and her two top teeth are looking like they'll be here within a couple of weeks
• She eats all table food and will only let you spoon feed her applesauce and yogurt, but still has to stick her fingers in her mouth and make a mess with it!
• She loves goldfish crackers, puffs, cheerios, peas, sweet potatoes, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, mangoes, bread, pasta and pretty much anything else you try to feed her.
  
• She's still nursing at least 4 but sometimes 5 times a day (and she doesn't bite! Thank goodness)
• She has a little bit of a temper when things don't go her way, and sometimes she will bit her own hand, your hand, or whatever she's near if she gets upset at you for telling her no, taking something away, or taking her away from something.
• She can say daddy, but doesn't say it very often.
• She loves her little stuffed kitty, but I think she thinks kitties bark like puppies because every time we give her the kitty or ask her where the kitty is, she barks like a dog. (oops!)
• She loves animals, and gets very excited about playing with them, petting them or even seeing them
• Her favorite thing to watch is the Backyardigans, and I only let her watch less than 1 episode a day when I need to get something done, or if she's super ornery
• She is still taking 2 naps a day and goes to bed around 7:30-8
• She loves to listen to us read books
• She loves to turn the pages of any books, and is very gentle with them for the most part

Seeing as how many sicknesses we've dealt with in the last month or so, she's such a happy well-behaved little girl and we are SO thankful for that! She's so curious and loves to figure things out. It's super cute. We're so happy to have you in our family, Ellie!

(sorry no photos at the moment. Maybe soon. Today was NOT the day to take pictures of Ellie...)

Christmas time

This time of year is my favorite for many reasons, and I am so happy that I've got 90% of my decorations up! The only thing missing is a tree. This year, we're opting for a small 4 ft or so tree to save money, and because we're going to be in Roosevelt for Christmas.

As I have grown older, I have realized more and more the importance and true meaning of Christmas and I can't help but say that I feel I have been blessed beyond all measure throughout my life. Even when I feel like times are tough and I may not be able to have everything I want, I am so thankful to have the basic necessities of life. I have definitely taken this for granted, and I hope that as I continue to mature and age I can realize the tender mercies and beautiful blessings around me more.

One thing I am extremely grateful for at this time of year is my family. I am so thankful to have all of my family within a few hours drive. It brings about a sense of security that I didn't know I had until we moved all the way across the country for the summer.

Our future is very much up in the air right now and I want to be able to have no regrets about the time I have left living so close to family and having that support near-by. Because this may or may not be our last Christmas in Utah, we are trying to do many fun things here and spend a lot of time with family and close friends before we're off to other adventures!

I'm looking forward to the upcoming month of December. I am so excited to start some traditions of our own with our little family and teach Ellie the traditions we each have brought into our family. I'm extra excited for Ellie's reactions to things like the Christmas tree once it's all decorated, the present opening and the toys that Santa will be bringing her!

This year went by SO quickly and as I think about how November is leaving us and December is knocking at the door, I'm feeling very bittersweet because that means my sweet little baby is turning 1! I am so thankful for her and every single day I get to stay home with her and watch her learn and grow!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and you all get to do amazingly fun things this year!

November 2011=sick month 2011

Holy Moly!

Can I just say I'm SOOOO ready for this month to be over? I think we've had maybe 5 days when everyone has been healthy at the same time. First it was David with a cold at the end of October that carried into the beginning of November, then Ellie got an ear infection around the same time. Then the ear infection wasn't getting better, then she got hand foot mouth disease, then another ear infection.

Then, after we had like 3 days of no medications, and everyone healthy, Ellie got the stomach flu--the day before Thanksgiving. Then I got it ON Thanksgiving day, then David got it Thanksgiving night. Whew! That's a whole lot of sick going on!

I'm so ready to finish cleaning everything/washing all bedding and getting the remaining bugs out of our house so we don't get sick anymore!!

The only blessing in disguise was that David got sick when he didn't have to miss any school or work, and I was sick while David was home to take care of Ellie!

Thankfully, we're all back to normal now and happy and healthy!

Rough rough week

If you've followed my facebook posts, you know that things are crappy for us, and mostly for Ellie with her being all sorts of sick and in pain. The worst thing is, is that the sickness she has now isn't the first bad thing to happen to her this week!

The first rough happening for this week was on Monday evening, when Ellie decided to walk toward the TV at our neighbor's house. She fell forward on her face, started screaming super loudly, and then I noticed that blood was pouring out of her mouth! Such a scary sight! Apparently, she fell on her binky just right and cut the piece of skin that holds your top lip to your gums.

After getting her to calm down, and after stopping the bleeding, she decided to try to walk to David at our house, and lo and behold, she fell AGAIN--doing the SAME EXACT thing she had just done, but this time, she bled for over an hour, screamed like crazy, and we were freaked out pretty badly. I couldn't get her to calm down because of the pain, and she wouldn't fall asleep without a binky, and every time she sucked on it, she bled more! (talk about a HUGE mess!!!) Then I had a revelation! Why not put oragel on her sad little mouth so it would be numb and she could sleep! Worked like a charm!

In the morning, we cleaned up all the blood (luckily it came out of the sheets, crib bumper, towels, rags, and clothes she bled on!!) and she was good as new! No sign of even a bit of a fat lip!

The next crappy thing to happen happened when she was with David. He set her down so he could put something away in the fridge, and she walked into the fridge and hit her eyebrow on one of the shelves! (UGH!) More screaming, NO BLOOD, and a little bit of calming her down and she was good as new!

On Tuesday, we found out some grim news, and that was that a little boy our neighbor goes to babysit from time to time had come down with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease! This meant that the neighbor's baby, Lexi was exposed to HFMD, and earlier that day, Ellie had stolen a binky from Lexi and sucked on it! UGGGGH! We knew that it was pretty much inevitable that Ellie would eventually come down with HFMD, but we were crossing our fingers anyway!

Wednesday came and Ellie hadn't shown signs, but then Thursday hit, and she was starting to be crabby. Then last night she was up every 4 hours on the money. It seemed strange to me that she would be so miserable and she almost acted like she had another ear infection. This was also odd to me since we just BARELY finished her antibiotic on Monday!

So today, Friday, I got an appointment for 3:50 p.m. and boy oh boy, it was the LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE! Ellie had been screaming all day. Really. All. Day. Long! I knew it was more than just the HFMD! And I was right! She DOES have a mild ear infection on top of teething, HFMD and just having a rough week.

The poor girl. I feel so bad for her and I just want her to be able to feel OK! She's having a hard time nursing and swallowing, which hopefully doesn't turn into dehydration!

Even though we've been hit with such crappy things, we're still thankful that we're parents to this amazing little girl! She's so much fun, and I can't wait until she gets better so we can all get some sleep and be happy again!

Ellie ten months old!

Time just keeps flying, and Ellie just keeps growing up! She's 10 months old today, and she's such a big girl! As each day goes by, she's becoming more and more independent and more of a toddler instead of a baby. She's so fun and has so much personality!

We got her dressed in a cute outfit & went to put her in the crib to take some pictures and she thought it was bedtime, so she cried and cried! Then we just scratched that idea!

Here is a little about her at 10 months:

• She sleeps from about 8 to 8 most nights, which is AWESOME for us!
• She takes 2 naps a day, varying in length from 1-2 hours.
• She has just learned to "give loves" to things, and is frequently hugging her stuffed animals and us.
• She likes to give kisses to you if you ask for them.
• She's wearing 12 month clothes, but they're still pretty big on her. She's also wearing size 2 & 3 shoes & size 3 diapers.
• She nurses 4-5 times a day, eats 3 "normal" meals consisting of bread, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, peas, sweet potato fries (home-made & her favorite!), cheddar-broccoli nuggets (home-made), string cheese, yogurt, water, chicken, and just about anything else we let her have. She LOVES food, and I'm always amazed at how much she can really eat!
• She stands up for up to about 1 minute at a time and has taken a couple steps here and there, but isn't really interested in learning to walk.
• She loves to point to her nose when you ask her where her nose is.
• She loves to play in the bathroom, and if the door isn't latched, she'll go in there and put anything she can in the bathtub.
• She's just started to climb (UH-OH) and we had to take the shelf off of our coffee table, because she can climb on to it! She's starting to climb into the bathtub (another uh-oh) and tries to climb onto anything else she can reach.
• Getting into the kitchen drawers and pulling everything in them out is one of her favorite pass times.
• She can say "mama" "dada" "uh-oh" "baba" "whatsthat" "go" and "nana"
• She's still learning to say mama and dada to the right person, but she's getting close!
• She STILL doesn't have any teeth, or any signs of any teeth...
• She weighs 18 lbs 7 oz
• She loves to turn the light switches to "off" whenever I carry her out of a room
• She is starting to point at things more and talk as she points
  

She's such a joy to have around, and we love her so so much! She's such a blessing and we're so thankful we get to be her parents!

Today she climbed in her toy bin and I covered her with her toys. She thought it was pretty fun. p.s. check out that yellow ring mid-fling!

Giving her kitty "loves"

Standing and pointing. When she points it's usually like this and super quick with her pointing and then putting her arm back down.

Standing up all by herself but too timid and busy to take a step!

Happy ten months old, Ellie!

Crazy week and other events

This week has been insane! I feel like we've had to rush through it/do so many things this week that we haven't had time to just sit back and enjoy life!

Monday-Doctor with Ellie, ear infections (YUCK), David's birthday, David's sick, Running errands like crazy because David was home with sleeping Ellie (YAY!)

Tuesday-David had to get to campus relatively early, had class from 10-7!! My mom & FBLA came to stay at the Marriott that's like 3 blocks away, Dinner @ the Mall w/my mom to visit & catch up.

Wednesday-Play with my mom and go shopping, sheet-music buying, go visit grandma, go to lunch, David gets a call from BMPC about them wanting to recruit him for a Crew Training Engineer position (In Charleston, SC) clean the house after playing with mom, thaw & frost cake (we all know how THAT turned out...) make random impromptu dinner, party w/cake and ice cream & friends.

Thursday-Catch-up day, David comes home sick AGAIN! Walk to Macey's to get some groceries/get exercise, Temple Recommend Interviews, prepare talk for Sunday.

Friday-Clean house, do laundry, go BACK to the doctor because Ellie's not really getting any better, go visiting teaching, carve Ellie's pumpkin with her, Go to Sam's to get Halloween candy, Have friends over to carve pumpinks, finish writing talk.

Saturday-Pick up bountiful basket, David intramural game at 12, David AICHE relay race 2 p.m., make soup for Trunk-or-Treat, 5:30 Trunk-or-Treat pre-soup potluck & then Trunk-or-Treating. Go over talk again.

Sunday-Give talk.....RELAX!

Busy week we've had/are going to continue to have until SUNDAY! I hope things start to slow down!

On the happy side of things, here are some pictures of our adorable little Ellie just being herself!

Shoes, Shoes and MORE SHOES! This girl loves to chew on shoelaces, flip flops, high heels, you name it. It's disgusting, so we usually hide our shoes...


Ellie's not afraid of anything, this fat lip sure proves that!

She was not wanting to go to sleep, then when I went in to check on her, this is what she was doing. Comfortable? To Ellie it is!

Ever since she had enough hair to do piggies, we do them as often as possible to get Ellie used to sitting and getting her hair done. She loves to hold the elastics while I do her hair.

I never EVER want to forget this hilariously cute face that Ellie makes when she gets excited about something! I'm so glad I caught it on camera!

Happy Birthday, David!

On Monday, David turned 26! We had him open a present before he left for school, since it was his birthday (and sadly, we all over-slept so we didn't get to make him a special breakfast because he had to be to school in less than 30 minutes after he woke up!).

The present he got to open was from me and it was Mary Kay High Intensity Cologne. David's been out of cologne for quite some time, and the cologne he had was from a Mary Kay type company in Brazil, and it was like triple the cost to get it shipped to the US, so we had to settle for something that was easily obtained. Luckily, he likes the way it smells (and so do I!)


Later that day, I took Ellie to the doctor because she was just not feeling/acting well. Turns out she has ear infection in BOTH ears! YUCK! While I was at the doctor with Ellie, David text me to say he was coming home because HE was feeling yucky! Not a great day to get sick!!

So we decided to have David open the rest of his presents and he let Ellie tear off the wrapping paper! She LOVED helping him, and it was so cute to watch her get excited about the paper. It's just fun to think how Christmas will go this year!

This present had 2 pairs of jeans from my Parents


Havainnas Flip Flops (Made in Brazil) from Ellie

He also got a card from Grandma Holman, and a card from his parents with a birthday check inside!

David says Thank You to both sets of parents and Grandma for cards and presents!!!

Since David wasn't feeling well, I didn't make the dinner I planned for that night, and I didn't frost his cake (luckily I froze each layer so I didn't have a wasted cake!) and we decided that Wednesday would be a better time to have cake and ice cream.

Well, I kind of made a huge mistake, got distracted, interrupted while frosting his beautiful home-made Red Velvet cake, and long story short--it toppled to the floor!

We rushed to the store to pick out a substitute since we were expecting guests for a little party, and all was well. A handful of our friends made it to have cake and ice cream and it was fun to have people over to sing Happy Birthday to David and just hang out, talk and have fun!

Store bought cake (wasn't even close to as tasty as my Red Velvet cake disaster was!) with my cute little cake banner!
Picture of the cute birthday banner I made David!

Thanks to those who came! We had a ton of fun celebrating David turning the lovely age of 26!

p.s. Someday I'll maybe try to make another cake and frost it myself. We'll see. It's just too bad it was wasted, because it was DANG good!

Blessed

I just wanted to take a moment to write my feelings that I've been having lately. As more and more of my friends are having babies, I can't help but compare their experiences to mine when I was pregnant with Ellie.

In particular I have been feeling very lucky and blessed that I had a super easy pregnancy. My only complication was that I got sick, and had a lot of back pain after about 30 weeks. I didn't have any complications with Ellie, nothing was out of the ordinary, I never had high blood pressure, I didn't get gestational diabetes and I didn't even go over my due date.

I'm so thankful every day that I was able to have Ellie the way I had hoped--natural, without medication and relatively quickly. It's hard for me to see some of my friends suffer during their pregnancies or experience complications at the very end when they planned the whole time to not have a c-section or any other unforeseen complications.

I could have easily had complications just like they have had, but I was lucky enough not to. I count my blessings for this every single day!

For those of you who have dealt with complications/are dealing with them now, my heart goes out to you. I can't even begin to imagine the worry/stress/heartache that you must have felt/feel as you went through such hard things.

There is one friend I know of in particular that is having a hard time with her pregnancy and is stuck in the hospital until they deliver her little girl. Her name is Suelyn and I hope that you can all pray for her to have comfort and peace in her heart as she's going through such difficult times.

Big girl!

Walking is just around the corner, folks!

Check Ellie out!

Blogging fail

I don't know what it is lately, but I HATE to blog. I don't know if it's that my ADD has taken over and I can't seem to focus my attention to one thought for more than five minutes or if it's just that I live a SUPER boring life.

Probably a nasty little combination of BOTH.

So does anybody have a "quick fix" for this bleh attitude towards blogging? Do I need to give up and write in a real journal every day?

Speaking of journal, I need to catch up on Ellie's baby book! She's doing so many awesome things lately!

Yesterday, I successfully taught her to find her nose and touch it when I say, "Where's your nose?" It is the cutest thing ever. It may take her about a minute and a few pokes in the eye, cheek, ear, and mouth, but she keeps trying and eventually gets to her nose, then gets REALLY happy because she knows she did it! She also learned how to hold her hand up to her ear when we say "hello" as if she's talking on a phone. Super cute as well!

She's getting SO BIG!!! I can't believe how much she isn't a little baby anymore and how much of a little toddler she's becoming! She's such a blessing and a joy in our lives! She makes every trial, hardship, bad feeling, bad day worth it when she smiles and snuggles me!

I am SO very grateful that my loving Heavenly Father would entrust me to take care of and nurture such a sweet little daughter! I am even more thankful that He seems to bless us in so many other ways so I can stay home and teach her the things only I can teach her.

I've been feeling very pitty partyish lately about budgets, staying in them, having them, following counsel from David and having a hard time with being a poor college student family. While I know this phase won't last forever, I am surely looking forward to getting out of it, but at the same time I'm thankful to be experiencing it! I know that the most important things in life can't be bought, and that is manifested to me every time I look into my sweet baby girl's eyes, see her smile or hear her laugh.

I'm so thankful that I have the opportunity to be a mother and to love and nurture one of God's children. It has been and I'm sure will continue to be one of the greatest blessings I will experience in this life. I am also very thankful for the Gospel and the guidance we have within it. It's so reassuring to know that because I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I can read/listen to the words of modern day prophets and receive guidance for my life. I am also very thankful for the concept of Eternal Families and the knowledge that I can be with my sweet family forever! I'm most thankful though, that when the going gets tough and it seems like I just can't take it anymore, I can turn to my Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ and through the atonement of Jesus Christ, I can be at peace with whatever life throws at me!

I guess this was my fast and testimony meeting testimony, since I didn't share my testimony yesterday in Sacrament Meeting!

Out as long as In!

9 months old? My little sweet pea is 9 MONTHS OLD?? Seriously, where has the time gone?

I can't believe it but it's true, so we'll just move on to fun and exciting things about Ellie and how much she's grown in the last 9 months!

We aren't having a 9 month well child check, since we went so close to 8 months to catch her up on immunizations. So, I measured her myself last week and she weighs 18 lbs, she's 27 1/2 inches tall and her head circumference is 17 1/4 inches.

According to the app that I plugged her measurements into, she's in the 50th percentile for all of her measurements. So, she's still on the small side, but I'm OK with that. She's such a little joy to be around and is happy about 95% of the time!

On an average day, Ellie and I sing and dance to primary songs, play with her toys & anything she decides to make a "toy" (pens, xbox control, empty no. 10 cannery can, her comb & brush, and her shoes). We eat breakfast and lunch together (and Ellie usually makes a HUGE mess because baby food is evil and only finger foods will do for her!) and boy oh boy can this little girl eat. She LOVES food. Mostly, she loves anything I'm eating and gets very upset if I don't share with her. Her favorite foods right now are peas, pears, toast, shredded cheese, sweet potatoes, yogurt, strawberries, bananas and blueberries.

She's got SO much personality and make hilarious faces almost all the time. She likes to copy whatever we do and say and likes to say "uh-oh" when I drop something or she throws something off her highchair tray.

She's standing every now and then for about 5-10 seconds at a time, but has only taken 2 mini-steps (2 separate times). I'll give her another week or so before she's finally getting the courage to take a few more steps, then take off! (p.s. I'm not ready for that to happen, but I know it's inevitable!!)

Here are some more things about Ellie:

• She loves it when we crawl towards her and play with her
• She loves to dance to any music
• She loves the Backyardigan's theme song
• She's wearing size 3 diapers, size 3 shoes and is in 6-9 month clothes and some 12 month clothes
• She sleeps from about 8 to 7:30 without waking up!
• She likes to carry anything around in her mouth like a puppy and crawl all over
• She is pulling herself up on anything and loves to walk along things
• She loves to play with books and turn the pages
• She loves to listen to me or David read to her
• She likes to listen to anybody sing
• She likes to find my flip flops and chew on them (YUCK!! I am always in awe at how she finds where I hide them so quickly!!)
• She hates being wiped off after making a mess while eating, but LOVES bathtime!
• She is still super friendly and loves to meet new people
• She likes all other kids and thinks little kids are hilarious

I am so thankful for her to be a part of our lives and for the joy she brings to us every day! We love her more than anything else and it's been so much fun to see her learn and grow!

photos taken at FotoFly. Best. Place. Ever!

Gathered thoughts?

I've started about a million and one blog posts in the last week, and none of them feel right. I can't seem to get out the thoughts that are in my head lately, and it's really starting to drive me crazy!

So here's to hoping I can finish THIS post. Because frankly, this is getting ridiculous!

One of the posts I started spawned from listening to and thinking about the song, "You're gonna miss this" by Trace Adkins. I have been thinking a lot lately how fast the time has gone since Ellie joined our little family and I can't believe that a) Christmas is only 3 months away b) that Ellie's turning 1 in 3 months and c) that Ellie's just about to start walking! Seriously, where has the time gone??

As more and more people I know are finally having babies, or have just had babies, I start to miss Ellie as a sweet little sleepy baby, and I marvel at how much she's grown in (nearly) 9 months time! She is so sweet, and she's becoming such a cute little girl! She's not a baby anymore, and it's so hard to let the baby things go! I want her to stay my little baby forever, but I know that's not fair to anyone. She has such a huge personality and her smile is so contagious. She's a very happy baby 90% of the time and being around her makes me happy (when she's not destroying all in her line of sight...).

Another post I started a while back was about being a stay at home mom. I am extremely grateful every day that I get to stay home with Ellie to teach her, help her learn and grow and to be there to watch her accomplish little milestones. When we were in New York, I really loved staying home with Ellie, and the thought of leaving her to go back to work really broke my heart this time because I think it would be harder to leave her now because she really knows who I am, she is doing more and more fun things every day and she is always sad when I leave her anywhere. The fact that we can squeeze by with me staying at home is such a blessing, and I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for providing us with what we need so I can be with Ellie to nurture her and teach her the things she needs to know to return to Him.

Being a mother is one of the most fun/exhausting/trying/emotional things I've ever done, but I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be Ellie's mom! It's such a rewarding thing to do!

I'm still feeling bleh about this post, but that's OK, because I'll just move on to more exciting topics and maybe things will become less "bleh"?

Last week was a CRAZY week in the Grigsby home. It was career week at BYU, and David had something EVERY DAY and that meant that he had to go to school dressed up all week because he'd be talking with recruiters and potential employers. He had a few interviews and I even got to attend a dinner with him and recruiters from Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, The Navy, IM Flash, and Celanese. It was a fun opportunity except for the fact that there was a fiance of one of the chemical engineers there that just talked and talked and talked and TALKED AND TALKED AND TALKED! I thought that I was going to go insane, because she wouldn't let ANYBODY say anything because she had to know EVERY little detail about EVERYTHING that every company did. It was annoying and I'm still upset about it because she butted into a conversation and David didn't get to talk to one of the recruiters for Dow, which is one of the companies he'd most like to work for. Anyway, moving on before I get more frustrated about it. On Friday, David played in a golf tournament with various recruiters, and his team tied for 1st place! They didn't win anything tangent, but it was cool to know David's good at golfing (well I already knew that) and that his team did well. He was very pleased about that and so am I.

Besides all the jobs he applied for during career week, he's been applying to basically anything and everything out there. We're hoping that we get positive news back from at least one company because knowing that he'll have a job when he graduates will be great and will relieve a lot of stress for us!

Just in case anybody is wondering, the jobs are basically all over the east coast. From Texas and over. There are a couple companies in Utah that he could work for, but he doesn't think he'll get a job at them, so we're probably not staying here. Though I really want him to get a job with IM flash because then we wouldn't have to move until we needed to because it's just before the point of the mountain and he could easily commute to work every day. Here's to hoping that happens!

Like I said, life has been crazy lately, but it's fun and we're so excited that David's ALMOST finished with school!

Also, I'm very excited for General Conference this weekend! The Relief Society Broadcast was amazing, and I honestly felt like all the talks were written just for ME. Especially President Uchtdorf's talk! Talk about amazing and spiritual! I hope everyone enjoys conference weekend, and that you hear something that you need to hear to strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ.

Life as of late

Here are some pictures of what's happened in our lives recently...

My brother Boyd invited David to go to the Coach's show @ Lavell Edward's Stadium before the BYU v. Utah game.

Ellie's hair is super long! So it sticks up if you put it in pigtails wet and pull them straight. Love it! Also, she loves this bottle of Velocity Facial Cleanser. Silly girl loves to go into my bathroom, find it and run away before I take it away.

This girl seriously loves the Xbox control. Like A LOT! She likes to push the middle button and turn the Xbox on. I turn it off multiple times a day, then I'll turn my back and it's on again. Silly girl! She also likes to lounge with her daddy on the couch while eating the Xbox control.

Hiking the "Y"

Ever since we moved to Provo, I have wanted to hike the "Y" and we finally did it!

We left our apartment a little after 9 and got started up the trail at about 9:30. The weather was perfect & the temperature was just right so it wasn't cold, or hot!


David carried Ellie in the Kelty backpack & she LOVED it. She loved looking out at all the different things along the trail.

It took us almost an hour to get up, and I thought I was going to die for a part of it (I'm still very out of shape from having Ellie...) but once we got to the top it was worth it! We took a few pictures, got Ellie out of the backpack & took a little rest, then headed back down.

We made it!


On the way down, Ellie fell asleep in the Kelty. It was pretty funny, but it seemed SO uncomfortable, so I folded my jacket for her little head to rest on.

(also, she plopped the binky out of her mouth on the way down, & we lost it :( we're sad about that)

We ran into a guy I went to USU with & worked on ATV News with. Random, but cool. It was good to quickly say hello & catch up briefly.

David was exhausted by the end of the hike, but I was feeling great (because I didn't have to carry an extra 20 lbs!!)!
David & Ellie at the trail head AFTER we hiked :)
We tried to keep Ellie asleep once we got to the car, but it just didn't work. She woke up when I put her in the car seat, then didn't take another nap until later that afternoon.

It was great to get out and enjoy the outdoors while the weather is still nice! I'm hoping to go hiking every Saturday until it's too cold to do so, so stay tuned for more pictures of more fun hikes around Utah Valley!

Random pics

A few random pictures from my camera that make me giggle.

Ellie loves this box.

It provides hours of entertainment...which is why I haven't unpacked it yet.

I let Ellie listen to a movie on the way to Roosevelt. She watched it for a little bit before she wanted to just eat my iPod.

Ellie stands up!

Labor Day Fun!

As I mentioned earlier, we headed out to Roosevelt for Labor Day weekend!

In my family, we have this tradition of going "up the mountain" (as we call it) to Pole Creek (pronounced "crick") Cave on the Monday of LDay weekend. It has been a lot of fun every time I've gone & this year was NO exception.

Two of my brothers, Jason & Jared, my sister Tyra & their families were all there, in addition to my little family & parents. We were also joined by my Grandma Holman, Uncle Logan and his two kids Laurel & Drake. It was a nice big crowd, which makes things like this even MORE fun :D

We packed our vehicles & headed to Pole Creek with the hopeful idea that we'd be able to get inside the cave & that it WOULDN'T be full of water. We knew that since it was such a wet year, our chances were very slim.

Once we hiked down to the cave entrance, we quickly discovered that our plans were indeed thwarted by mother nature and the cave was full of water! Random fact about this cave, nobody has found an end to it, because you can only hike into it until you reach water...it would be interesting to send some kind of under water night vision camera to see if you could ever find the end...

Ready to hike down to the cave

Aunt Tyra playing with Ellie

Because we were in the most beautiful mountains in the world, we were able to still have a lot of fun! We hopped back into the vehicles & drove up to the Sinks. The Sinks are awesome. BEAUTIFUL waterfall & a pool of water that swirls around and disappears. Nobody knows where the water goes...it's been a mystery for who knows how long. Super cool!

Perhaps the BEST part of the Sinks are the wild Raspberry plants. They were loaded this year and SOOOO tasty!

Ellie really enjoyed the sinks because David took her by the waterfall & let her splash her hands in the water. It was super cute, & I believe my sister in-law has some pictures.

After we had our fill of picking Raspberries, we hiked back up to where all the cars were parked & had a picnic. We made a fire, roasted hot dogs & ate LOTS and LOTS of tasty food. The children played & the adults visited & told stories. It was a lot of fun and I love spending time in the beautiful outdoors! I especially loved this outing because it could be my last labor day spent with my family at Pole Creek & the Sinks, since we're not sure where we'll be moving in May!

Tyra & Ellie playing

The only bad part was that my mom was stuck on crutches & couldn't get up and walk around. But, that's another story...

More pictures to come when I get them from other people!

731 days of wedded bliss...

On Sunday, we had officially been married for 2 years! I asked David & he said it was a better 2 years than his mission (thank goodness :D :D)

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary first, by attending the Temple. What a great way to celebrate being married! We hadn't had the opportunity to go to the Temple since February, so it was GREAT to go.

The Friday before our actual anniversary, we went out to dinner without Ellie (Thanks again, Hillary!!!) to P.F. Chang's. I'm not HUGE into Chinese, but this was spectacular. Lettuce wraps. MMM I think I could eat those every day. After dinner, we ran home to grab a blanket & to leave our car at our apartment so we could walk to the Roof Top Concert Series. It was a blast & a nice low-key evening out with my sweet husband.

The only picture from that night. ha ha

I made David a gift basket full of fun things & he got me a couple cami's that I've been dying to buy for the last few months!

We headed to Roosevelt the next day for Labor Day weekend, & we had a fun time there. Post about that to come soon!

Some days it feels like we've been married for years and years, but at the same time it feels like we were just married yesterday! Marriage is my favorite thing ever & marrying David was the best decision I've ever made. The 2nd best decision was having Ellie :)

8 months

Ellie turned 8 months old a week ago, and she is getting to be such a big girl! Since we were in NY when she turned 6 months old, we had her 6 month appointment when we got back, & she's super healthy & growing well! Her head has finally decided to grow & catch up to the rest of her body. ha ha!

She weighed 17 lbs 9 oz and was in the 46th percentile for weight, she's 26 1/2 inches tall (I think?? I misplaced the paper with her measurements on them!) & is 64th for height and her head is in the 42nd percentile!

She had to get 3 shots when we went in, and she was NOT happy about them! She cried a lot, but calmed down not too long after. Because she's such a healthy little girl and because she was almost 8 months when we went in, the doctor doesn't need to see us back until she's 1! That's some good news for us :)

Ellie's really funny lately & her little personality is shining through more and more each day. She's starting to stand on her own for small periods of time (AHH ALREADY!?!?!?) and I'm sure she'll be walking before we know it! She eats pretty well during the day, but sometimes is just too distracted for nursing & I've contemplated quitting, but then I just don't want to give up quite yet.

Here are more things about Ellie at 8 months old:

• She loves to eat finger foods & thinks it's lots of fun to drink from our Camelbak water bottles.
• She loves her oatmeal in the morning & pretty much all baby food we still give her. She's eating more table food now though & she likes it a lot.
  
• She's wearing size 3 diapers & some 3-6 month & 6-9 month clothes. There are only a few outfits in the 3-6 month range that still fit her so we're just about ready to put them away.
• She is starting to walk along the furniture & she can get around pretty fast.
• She knows how to say dada & is just learning how to say "uh oh" but it usually comes out as "uh uh".
• She gets super excited about her 3 little duck bath toys & takes them with her all over.
• She likes to dance to music & likes to watch Fantasia.
• Outside is her favorite place to be.
• She LOVES animals. She was obsessed with my sister in law's little dog, Annie & chased it all over while we were visiting my parents last weekend.
• She doesn't have any teeth yet, and it doesn't seem like she's going to have any in the near future.
• She takes 2-3 naps during the day & goes to bed around 8 & wakes up at 7 a.m.
• She's still waking up 1-2 times a night, but we're working on that one...
• She loves to crawl into the bathroom and stand next to the bathtub & hit her hands on the sides of it to make noise.
• When she gets tired, she gets super silly & likes to ram her head into your chest & cuddle.
• She loves to play with other little kids & thinks they're hilarious.
• She likes to pretend she's a big girl & would rather sit in a booster seat than a high chair to eat!
• She loves to sit and listen to us read books with her & sing to her.

She's growing up so fast & I can't believe that she'll be one in just 4 months! Ah! That's crazy! We love her to death & she makes life fun and interesting every day!

HUGE Mary Kay Inventory Sale!

So, I want to get back into selling Mary Kay. In order to do this, I need to clear out all the inventory I have! So EVERYTHING I have in stock is 40% off & I'll ship for free to anywhere in the continental US. EVERYTHING MUST GO!

Please feel free to share this sale with any friends & family & link this to your facebook/twitter/blog. If you refer someone & they purchase something, I'll give you 10% off your NEXT order of NEW products.

How to order:

1. Send an email to sgrigsby@marykay.com with the products you want
2. give me a call at 385-226-1817

I take check, cash, debit/credit (VISA/DISCOVER/MASTERCARD)

Here's a list of in-stock items for sale:

Age-Fighting products:

TimeWise® Miracle Set® was: $90 now: $54
1 - Combination/Oily
1 - Normal/Dry


2 - TimeWise® 3-In-1 Cleanser (combination to oily) was: $18 now: $10.80

1 - TimeWise® 3-In-1 Cleansing Bar (with soap dish) was: $18 now: $10.80

2 - TimeWise® Day Solution Sunscreen SPF 25* was: $30 now: $18

4 - TimeWise® Night Solution was: $30 now: $18


1 - TimeWise® Even Complexion Mask was: $20 now: $12

1 - TimeWise Replenishing Serum+C™ was: $55 now: $33

2 - TimeWise® Microdermabrasion Set was: $55 now: $33

2 - TimeWise® Firming Eye Cream was: $26 now: $15.60

1 - TimeWise Body™ Hand and Décolleté Cream Sunscreen SPF 15* was: $18 now: $10.80

Velocity® Skincare:

1 - Velocity® Facial Cleanser was: $12 now: $7.20

Extra Moisture Products:

2- Intense Moisturizing Cream (dry skin) was: $30 now: $18

2 - Oil-Free Hydrating Gel (normal to oily skin) was: $30 now: $18

Foundations:

1 - Mary Kay® Foundation Primer was: $16 now: $9.60

Mary Kay® Medium-Coverage Foundation was: $14 now: $8.40

2 - Ivory 100

1 - Ivory 104

2 - Ivory 200

1 - Ivory 204

1 - Beige 300

1 - Beige 304

TimeWise® Matte-Wear Liquid Foundation

1 - Ivory 6 was: $20 now: $12

Mary Kay® Creme-To-Powder Foundation

1 - Ivory 1 was: $14 now: $8.40

Mary Kay® Mineral Powder Foundation was $18 now: $10.80

1 - Ivory 1

2 - Ivory 2

1 - Beige 1

1 - Beige 1.5

For the eyes:

1 - Indulge® Soothing Eye Gel was: $15 now: $9

1 - Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover was: $15 now: $9

Mary Kay® Concealer: was: $10 now: $6

1 - Ivory 1

1 - Ivory 2

1 - Beige 2

1 - Mary Kay® Ultimate Mascara™ in black was: $15 now: $9

1 - Mary Kay® Lash Lengthening Mascara in black was: $10 now: $6

1 - Mary Kay® Eye Primer was: $12 now: $7.20

1 - Mary Kay® Brow Tools was: $4 now: $2.40

Mary Kay® Mineral Eye Color: was: $6.5 each now: $3.90


1 - Crystalline

2 - Spun Silk

2 - Peacock Blue

1 - Silver Satin

1 - Espresso

1 - White Lily

Mary Kay® Eyeliner:

1 - Steely was: $10 now: $6

For the lips:

Mary Kay® Liquid Lip Color: was: $13 each now: $7.80

1 - Cherry Coffee

1 - Sherbet

Mary Kay® Tinted Lip Balm Sunscreen SPF 15** was: $13 each now: $7.80

1 - Blush

1 - Natural

Mary Kay® Creme Lipstick: was: $13 each now: $7.80

1 - Sheer Blush

1 - Dusty Rose

1 - Pink Satin

2- Pink Shimmer

1 - Sunset

1 - Frosted Rose

1 - Boysenberry

Mary Kay® NouriShine® Lip Gloss: was: $13 each now: $7.80

1 - Bronze Bliss

1 - Cream & Sugar

1 - Starry

Mary Kay® Lip Liner: was: $10 each now: $6

1 - Dusty Pink

1 - Neutral

1 - Satin Lips® Set (Mask & Balm) was: $18 now: $10.80

Body & Sun:

1 - Fragrance-Free Satin Hands® Pampering Set was: $34 now: $20.40

1 - Mint Bliss™ Energizing Lotion for Feet & Legs was: $30 now: $18

1 - Mary Kay® SPF 30 Sunscreen* was: $14 now: $8.40

Fragrances:

1 - Velocity® Eau de Parfum was: $28 now: $16.80

2 - Thinking of You™ Eau de Parfum was: $30 now: $18

Compacts & Applicators:

1 - Mary Kay® Compact Pro® (unfilled) was: $35 now: $21

3 - Mary Kay® Compact (unfilled) was: $18 now: $10.80

1 - Cosmetic Sponges was: $2.5 now: $1.50

1 - Mary Kay® Brush Collection was: $48 now: $28.80

2 - Mary Kay® Mineral Foundation Brush was: $10 now: $6

1 - Compact Cheek Brush was $2.50 now: $1.50

1 - Compact Powder Brush was: $4 now: $2.40

1 - Eye Applicators was: $2.50 now: $1.50

1 - Travel Roll-Up Bag (unfilled) was: $30 now: $18

Discontinued items:

1 - Domain Hair & Body Shampoo (for men) (I can't find the price for this, so if you want this, talk to me & I'll search for the price in my order receipts!)

1 - Mary Kay After Sun Replenishing Gel was $12.00 now $7.20

Seven Months Old

Where do I even begin? Our little Ellie is getting to be such a big girl & I can't believe it's been 7 months since we welcomed her into our lives! She's learning to do SO many new things and she thinks she's a big girl. This past month we've been able to do so many amazing things and have some fun experiences with Ellie. Even though she won't remember them, it will be fun to tell her all about our summer in New York when she grows up!

Here's some things about Ellie at Seven Months:

• She LOVES attention
• Loves to crawl, sit, crawl and sit in circles. So funny. I'll have to try to get it on video soon.
• She loves to pull herself up on the couch, chair legs, or anything she can get a hold of and just stand there.
• She's wearing some 3-6 month clothes and 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers
• She is getting really good at saying "Dada"
• She throws fits like nobody's business
• She can drink out of a sippy with help
• She likes to feed herself the little gerber puffs
  
• She's tried just about every veggie and fruit of baby food they make and loves pretty much all of them.
• She's sleeping through the night about 2-3 times a week, but she hasn't been going to bed until 9 or 10 at night, which is no fun
• She takes 2 naps a day
• She LOVES to hold/hug/eat her Teddy Bear we bought her from F.A.O Schwarz.
• She is learning how to play peek-a-boo and take my hands off my eyes for me
• She loves to pinch (OUCH!) and grab my hair & her hair
• She loves to watch TV (I know, so terrible...but she gets SUPER mad if you won't let her watch whatever show is on)
• She is learning the concept of walking with help & is going to be a lot of trouble in a couple months!
• Doesn't get sunburned. The lucky child got David's skin not mine!
  

Ellie is such a happy baby most of the time and she's lots of fun! We love her to death and we love watching her grow up. It's so fun to see her little personality shine through and see how she's like David and me so much.

Hilarious mid laugh picture